Various embodiments for producing a tobacco rod with a hollow cylindrical tube extending therethrough

ABSTRACT

A method for making cigarettes comprising feeding tubing piece-by-piece to a vertical duct by opening and closing-timing gate operated by cam, accelerating tubing down to the vertical duct, with the help of vertical accelerator belts until the tubing becomes captured into the hopper holder, picking the tubing with an articulate tubing holder located on a transferring drum, lowering to the garniture, and releasing the tubing under the registration lagged-belt.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/877,600, filed Dec. 28, 2006.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of the invention relates to apparatus and methods for making cigarettes, and more particularly to making cigarettes with a central hollow cylindrical tube.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Methods are provided for making cigarettes which comprise a hopper section that feeds tobacco, and a rod forming section that wraps the tobacco with paper. A porous belt, through which air is drawn, runs on two wheels and tobacco is fed to the porous belt through a tobacco feed chamber. As the porous belt passes over the chamber, a tobacco column builds up on the porous belt. The tobacco column travels with the belt and is contained by the front and rear rails. In addition, the tobacco column feeds through two trimming discs where the column is trimmed to a specific weight/volume. The trimmed tobacco column then passes under the left wheel where it is scraped off the belt by a scraper. At the same time, paper, which is pulled by a drive belt, is pulled under the tobacco column by the rod forming section of the maker.

The scraper, which is flat at the entrance and concave at the exit, forms the top of the tobacco column into a cylindrical shape. At the same time the paper and drive belt under the tobacco column enter a garniture that supports the drive belt and paper. As the tobacco column leaves the scraper it passes under a tongue that maintains the cylindrical shape of the top of the tobacco column. As the tobacco column travels through the tongue area the drive belt and paper under the tobacco column are formed by the garniture around the tobacco column to produce a cylindrical shape on the lower half of the column.

At this point the tobacco column has been transformed into a tobacco cylinder. Front and rear side rails/folders attached to the garniture press in on the drive belt and keep the paper tight against the tobacco cylinder. As the tobacco cylinder leaves the tongue the rear folder forces the drive belt and paper to wrap over the top of the tobacco cylinder. The tobacco cylinder and paper continue to travel down the garniture and glue is applied under the front edge of the paper. The front folder then wraps the front edge of the paper over the rear edge as the rear folder releases the drive belt.

Heretofore, there has been a need to provide an efficient way to provide a hollow passageway in the tobacco rod, and for a method for producing a tobacco rod with a hollow cylindrical tube extending therethrough.

The present invention is intended to intermittently insert and accurately position objects in a tobacco rod being produced by a tobacco rod maker equipped with a dual (or multiple) path suction rod conveyor.

One embodiment of the present invention is a method for making cigarettes comprising: configuring wheels of a conveyor to allow tow porous belts to run in parallel to one another; adding a rear rail, front rail and center divider rail to the conveyor to form a separate tobacco column on each porous belt; feeding tobacco to an updraft chambers located below the porous belts while the belts are moving; building-up tobacco columns on each of the porous belts; trimming the tobacco columns with rotating trimmer disks and producing accurate tobacco weight; moving the trimmed tobacco columns along the porous belts until the tobacco columns reach drive wheels; feeding paper under the tobacco columns at the drive wheels and removing excess tobacco from the porous belt with a scrapper; depositing the tobacco on moving paper and around a hollow cylindrical tube; flowing the tobacco, tube and paper into a garniture; forming the tobacco tube and paper into a cylindrical shape; feeding the cylindrical shaped rod through folders and past a glue applicator that seals the paper; producing a finished tobacco rod for cutting into individual tobacco rods.

Another embodiment of the present invention is a method for making cigarettes comprising: cutting tubing to a certain length and loading the tubing into a hopper; picking-up the tubing with a vacuum drum and moving the tubing down vertical ducts by friction belts; propelling pieces of the tubing with a propulsion wheel that transports the tubing; separating the tubing with a friction spacing wheel; registering the tubing with a lugged belt; and entering the tubing into a garniture and tongue area.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is a method for making cigarettes comprising: feeding tubing piece-by-piece to a vertical duct by opening and closing-timing gate operated by cam; accelerating tubing down to the vertical duct, with the help of vertical accelerator belts until the tubing becomes captured into the hopper holder; picking the tubing with an articulate tubing holder located on a transferring drum, lowering to the garniture; and releasing the tubing under the registration lagged-belt.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is a method for making cigarettes comprising: feeding tubing piece-by-piece to a vertical duct by opening and closing timing gate operated by cam; accelerating tubing down to the vertical accelerator belts until it comes to rest on tubing position supports or slanted toward the garniture; accelerating tubing horizontally in direction of tobacco flow with horizontal acceleration pusher; and capturing the tubing by registration lagged belt.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is a method for making cigarettes comprising: getting tubing picked from mass flow hopper by vacuum drum; transferring tubing to a locating drum with vacuum or mechanical retention mechanism; turning the tubing holder of the locating drum at least 90 degree in the horizontal plan and at least 180 degrees in vertical plane; and depositing a plug under the registration lagged belt inside of the garniture.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is a method for making cigarettes comprising: getting tubing picked from mass flow hopper by vacuum drum; transferring tubing at least 180 degrees in the vertical plane and accelerated down to the vertical duct with compressed air until it become rested on tubing positioning supports and slanted toward the garniture; and accelerating tubing horizontally in the direction of tobacco flow with horizontal acceleration pusher until it become captured by registration lagged belt.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention can be described in greater detail with the aid of the following drawings.

FIG. 1A shows an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1B shows an exemplary flow diagram of a method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary tobacco feed flow with a right updraft.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary tobacco feed flow with a left updraft.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary embodiment of the present invention where the tobacco columns are trimmed.

FIG. 5 shows and exemplary embodiment of the present invention that utilizes a wheel.

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary tobacco rod with a hollow center mandrel.

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary finished tobacco rod with a hollow center mandrel.

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary embodiment of the present invention with a finished hollow core tobacco rod where the tube extends from one end to the other.

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary embodiment of the present invention with a finished hollow core tobacco rod where both ends of the tube are crimped closed.

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary embodiment of the present invention where hollow tubes of discrete length are intermittently fed into the tobacco machine by a feed drum.

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary embodiment of the present invention where the tobacco rod is cut to specified lengths and the tubes are inwardly spaced from the ends of a double length tobacco rod.

FIG. 12 shows an exemplary embodiment of the present invention where each tobacco rod is cut in half.

FIG. 13 shows additional detail of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14A illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an alternate arrangement of the present invention for intermittently feeding hollow tubes of discrete length into tobacco rod forming machinery.

FIG. 14B illustrates an exemplary flow diagram for a method for the alternate arrangement of FIG. 14A.

FIG. 15 shows additional detail of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 shows additional detail of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17A shows yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17B shows an exemplary flow diagram for a method of the present invention.

FIG. 17C shows another exemplary flow diagram for a method of the present invention.

FIG. 17D shows yet another exemplary flow diagram for a method of the present invention.

FIG. 18 illustrates a timing gate controlled by a cam.

FIG. 19 shows an enlarged detail of FIG. 18.

FIG. 20 illustrates a tubing placing and registration diagram.

FIG. 21 is a section view of FIG. 20.

FIG. 22 shows an exemplary tubing placement diagram with vacuum drum and horizontal acceleration kicker cam.

FIG. 23 shows an acceleration kicker cam.

FIG. 24 is an enlarged detail of the sprocket or lag belt.

FIG. 25 shows an exemplary tubing placement diagram with vacuum drum and locating drum.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1-9 show a continuous hollow tube fed into a tobacco rod forming machine where tobacco is positioned around the tube. Specifically, FIG. 1A shows an embodiment of the present invention that implements what will be referred to as the mandrel method. In FIG. 1, a rod 39 is added to the end of the center rail 41. The rod 39 extends into the tobacco flow between the tongue 12 and the garniture 17. The rod 39 serves as a mandrel, about which the tobacco flows between the tongue 12 and the garniture 17. In addition, tobacco gathers around the rod/mandrel 39 and is formed into a cylindrical shape by the garniture 17 and the tongue 12. The rod/mandrel 39 is typically sealed and cylindrical in shape. As the tobacco leaves the rod/mandrel 39, a hole remains in the tobacco cylinder.

FIG. 1A also includes a center rail 41, rear rail 50 and front rail 48 (not shown) that enclose trimmed tobacco columns 51, 52. Porous belts 27, 28 are located below a wheel 25. Also shown in the FIG. 1A are the rod/mandrel 39, paper 23 and porous drive belts 27, 28 each of which interface to a wheel 25, 37.

Furthermore FIG. 1A shows a glue applicator 11, folders and a spinning trimming disk 4. Moreover, FIG. 1A shows a tobacco feed flows with a right updraft 45 and left updraft 43 conductive chambers; and porous belts 27, 28 that allow air flows, as indicated by arrows 29, 31, 33 and 35. The details of sections 2-2 to 7-7 of FIG. 1A are shown in detail in FIG. 2 to FIG. 7, respectively, and further discussed below.

FIG. 1B shows an exemplary method associated with the embodiment of FIG. 1A. As shown in FIG. 1B, step 1001 is configuring drive wheels of a conveyor device to allow two porous belts to run in parallel to one another. Adding a rear rail, front rail and center divider rail to the conveyor to form a separate tobacco column on each porous belt occurs in step 1003. In step 1005, tobacco is fed to an updraft chambers for each of the porous belts. Two tobacco columns build-up on the porous belts in step 1007. Step 1009 is trimming the tobacco columns with two rotating trimmers in order to produce an accurate tobacco weight in the tobacco rod. Moving the trimmed tobacco columns along the porous belts until the reach the drive wheels occurs in step 1011. Step 1013 comprises feeding paper under the tobacco columns of the drive wheels and removing the tobacco from the porous belts with a scrapper. Depositing the tobacco on the moving paper and around the continuous hollow tube occurs in step 1015. In step 1017, the tobacco, tube and paper are flowed into the garniture. Step 1019 comprises forming the tobacco tube and paper into a cylindrical shape. Feeding the cylindrical shaped rod through folders and past a glue applicator where the paper is sealed occurs in step 1021. Step 1023 comprises producing a finished tobacco rod for cutting to produce individual tobacco rods.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 show a tobacco feed flow 67 with right updraft 65 and left updraft 66 conductive chambers, respectively. A front rail 51, center rail 55 and rear rail 57 enclose tobacco columns 63, 64. In addition, a hollow passageway 53 extends through the center rail. Porous belts 27, 28 are located at the bottom of vacuum chambers 50, 59 that allow air flows 52, 54, as indicated by the designated arrows.

FIG. 4 shows the present invention where the tobacco columns 63, 64 are trimmed. Tobacco flow 73 and air flows 52, 54 are indicated by the designated arrows. A front rail 51, center rail 55 and rear rail 57 enclose the trimmed tobacco columns 63, 64. Porous belts 52, 54 are located at the bottom of vacuum chambers 50, 59 and allow air flows 52, 54 as indicated by the designated arrows. Also shown in the FIG. 4 are a front disk 60 and a rear disk 58.

FIG. 5 shows the present embodiment of the invention that utilizes a wheel 25. In addition, FIG. 5 shows a front rail 51, center rail 55 with a hollow passageway 53 and rear rail 57 enclose the trimmed tobacco columns 63, 64. Porous belts 27, 28 are located below the wheel 25. Also shown in the FIG. 5 are a mandrel center rail 72, paper 62 and porous drive belts 27, 28 each of which is located below the wheel 25.

FIG. 6 shows a tobacco rod 82 with a hollow center mandrel 91. In particular, FIG. 6 shows a front folder 79, rear folder 87 resting on top of a garniture 89. FIG. 6 also shows the paper 81, tongue 83, drive belt 85 all positioned within the garniture 89.

FIG. 7 shows a tobacco rod 82 with a hollow center mandrel 91. In particular, FIG. 7 shows a front folder 79, rear folder 87 resting on top of a garniture 89 and a drive belt 85 with the sealed tobacco rod 82 positioned within the garniture 89.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a finished hollow core tobacco rod where the tube extends from one end to the other. In particular, FIG. 8 shows a hollow core tobacco rod comprising: paper 93; an inner hollow tube 95; and tobacco regions 97 without dense ends.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of finished hollow core tobacco rod without dense ends. In particular, FIG. 9 shows the hollow core tobacco rod comprising: paper 93; an inner hollow tube 95; and tobacco regions 97, wherein opposite ends of the inner hollow tube 95 are crimped closed at 99.

FIG. 10 illustrates an alternate embodiment where hollow tubes of discrete length are intermittently fed into the tobacco machine by a feed drum. In particular, the embodiment of FIG. 10 shows an apparatus with an insert feed drum 149 and insert hopper 151 feeding an apparatus configured to produce a sealed tobacco rod 115. The apparatus of this embodiment comprising: an inserted object entry guide 139; a lug and cable entry guide 155; a suction rod conveyor 153 further comprising lugs and flexible cable; lug and cable dual wheels 125; dual wheels 137; porous belts 127; a left updraft chamber 143; a right updraft chamber 145; a vacuum chamber with air flows 129, 131, 133, 135; a drive belt 119; a front rail, a sectioned center rail; and a rear rail; a garniture 117; folders 113; a glue applicator; paper 123; and a trimming disk.

As shown in FIG. 10, the lug and cable dual wheels 125 comprise an additional wheel about which the lug and cable rotate. The objects to be inserted into the apparatus are delivered through a feed system of insert feed drum 149 and insert hopper 151. Alternatively other types of well known feed systems may also be used with this embodiment. FIG. 13 further illustrates more detail of the apparatus of the invention. In particular, FIG. 13 shows the insert hopper 169; insets 167; the lug and cable entry guide 171; the flexible cable 173; lugs 175; the insert feed drum 177 and the inserted object 179.

As shown in FIG. 11, a double length tobacco rod with intermittent inserted objects may be produced by this embodiment. The tobacco rod comprising: paper 161; tobacco regions 163 and an inserted object 165, wherein the inserted object may be a hollow cylindrical tube or the like.

Further, in this embodiment individual tubes may be spaced apart, and when the tobacco rod is cut to specified lengths, the tubes are inwardly spaced from the ends to form a double length tobacco rod. When cut in half, each tobacco rod has an appearance as shown in FIG. 12. In particular, FIG. 12 shows a tobacco rod comprising: paper 161; tobacco regions 163; and an inserted object, such as a hollow tube 165 or the like.

FIG. 14-FIG. 16 illustrate an alternate arrangement for intermittently feeding hollow tubes of discrete length into tobacco rod forming machinery. In particular, FIG. 14A shows an apparatus comprising: a wheel and tube belt 193; folders 195; a garniture; a tongue 197; a registration belt; a dual band suction rod conveyor; a frictions spacing wheel; a sleeve; a tobacco rod paper bin 189; and paper 191. In addition, the apparatus of FIG. 14A further comprising: a tobacco hopper 201; a propulsion wheel 203; a hopper 205; a delivery drum 207; an accelerating belt 209; and a horizontal acceleration pusher 211.

In the above-discussed embodiment, the tubing gets cut to a certain length and loaded into the hopper 205, picked by the vacuum drum and moved down the vertical duct by the friction accelerating belts 209. The bottom of the hopper 205 has a cradle-guide and horizontal accelerating pusher that propels pieces of tubing under propulsion wheel 203 that transports them thru the tobacco-hopper 201 into the dual band suction rod conveyor. Further down stream tubing gets separated (e.g., by pulling gaps between separate pieces) by the friction spacing wheel. At this point the speed of the tubing slightly exceeds the speed of the suction rod conveyor, which allows it to be registered with the lugged belt before entering into the garniture and tongue 197 areas.

FIG. 14B illustrates an exemplary flow diagram for the method of the present embodiment of the invention. In step 1401, cutting tubing to a certain length and loading the tubing into the hopper occurs. Step 1403 is picking-up the tubing by the vacuum drum and moving it down the vertical duct by the friction belts. Propelling pieces of the tubing with a propulsion wheel for transporting the tubing occurs in step 1405. In step 1407, the tubing is separated with a friction spacing wheel. Registering with a lugged belt occurs in step 1409 and entering the tubing into the garniture and tongue area occurs in step 1411.

FIG. 15 is a section view of the dual band suction rod conveyor and friction spacing wheel of FIG. 14. In particular, FIG. 15 shows the spacing wheel 181; belts 183; tubing 185; and tobacco 187. FIG. 16 is an enlarged view of the registration belt 199 shown in FIG. 14.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 17-FIG. 23, in this embodiment, tubes of discrete length are dropped into a partially formed tobacco rod and the tobacco is thereafter formed around the tube in a garniture. In particular, FIG. 17A shows an apparatus comprising a hopper 213; vertical acceleration belts 215, 217; a transferring drum 233; a tuning holder 235 with at least one of a vacuum and mechanical retention; a garniture 237; first tubing 239; second tubing 243; and a registration belt 241.

In the embodiment of FIG. 17A, small diameter (i.e., 3-4 mm O.D), rigid tubing with irregular shape is delivered into garniture of tobacco rod making machine for fabrication of cigarettes with a hollow cylindrical tobacco rod. The present invention provides four possible methods for feeding precut pieces of tubing from mass flow hopper inside of garniture. These four ways are discussed in the following paragraphs.

FIG. 17B illustrates a first exemplary method. In particular, step 1701 is feeding tubing piece-by-piece to a vertical duct by opening and closing-timing gate operated by cam. Step 1703 is accelerating tubing down to the vertical duct, with the help of vertical accelerator belts until the tubing becomes captured into the hopper holder. Picking the tubing with an articulate tubing holder located on a transferring drum occurs in step 1705. Step 1707 is lowering to the garniture, and releasing the tubing under the registration lagged-belt occurs in step 1709.

FIG. 17C illustrates another exemplary method. In particular, step 1711 is feeding tubing piece-by-piece to a vertical duct by opening and closing timing gate operated by cam. In step 1713, accelerating tubing down to the vertical accelerator belts until it comes to rest on tubing position supports or slanted toward the garniture occurs. Accelerating tubing horizontally in direction of tobacco flow with horizontal acceleration pusher occurs in step 1715 and capturing the tubing by registration lagged belt occurs in step 1717.

FIG. 17D illustrates a yet another exemplary method for this embodiment. In particular, step 1721 is getting tubing picked from mass flow hopper by vacuum drum. Step 1723 is transferring tubing to a locating drum with vacuum or mechanical retention mechanism. Further, step 1725 is turning the tubing holder of the locating drum at least 90 degree in the horizontal plan and at least 180 degrees in vertical plane and depositing a plug under the registration lagged belt inside of the garniture occurs in step 1727.

A fourth exemplary method comprises: (1) picking tubing from a mass flow hopper by vacuum drum; (2) transferring tubing at least 180 degrees in the vertical plane and accelerated down to the vertical duct with compressed air until it become rested on tubing positioning supports and slanted toward the garniture; and (3) accelerating tubing horizontally in the direction of tobacco flow with horizontal acceleration pusher until it become captured by registration lagged belt.

FIG. 18 illustrates a timing gate controlled by a cam. In particular, FIG. 18 shows a cam 219, a timing gate 221; a spacing gate 223 and vertical accelerator belt 225 connected to a vacuum assembly. FIG. 19 shows an enlarged detail of FIG. 18. In particular, FIG. 19 discloses a vertical hopper holder 227; a tubing holder tip 229; and a vacuum passage 231.

FIG. 20 illustrates a tubing placing and registration diagram. In particular, FIG. 20 illustrates an apparatus comprising: a registration belt 245; a hopper 249; tubing position supports 255; a timing gate 253; and a horizontal acceleration pusher 251. FIG. 21 is a section view of FIG. 20 showing the hopper 257; the spacing gate 259; the timing gate 265; a control cam; and a garniture 261.

FIG. 22 shows an exemplary tubing placement diagram with vacuum drum and horizontal acceleration kicker cam. In particular, FIG. 22 shows a vacuum drum comprising: a registration belt 245; a hopper 249; tubing position supports 271; and a delivery drum 273. FIG. 23 shows an acceleration kicker cam comprising: a hopper 275; a refuse roller 279; a vacuum cam with compressed air 277; and at least one of a sprocket and lag belt 281 configured for horizontal tubing acceleration. More specifically, FIG. 24 is an enlarged detail of the sprocket or lag belt. FIG. 24 shows detail of the sprocket 267 and tubing 265 resting on two positioning posts on the bottom of a duct located before accelerating into the garniture.

FIG. 25 shows an exemplary tubing placement diagram with vacuum drum and locating drum. In particular, FIG. 25 shows an apparatus comprising: a hopper 287; a refuse roller 289; a vacuum drum 285; a locating drum 283; a tubing holder 291 and a garniture 293.

The foregoing description illustrates and describes the present invention. Additionally, the disclosure shows and describes only the preferred embodiments of the invention, but as mentioned above, it is to be understood that the invention is capable of use in various other combinations, modifications, and environments and is capable of changes or modifications within the scope of the inventive concept as expressed herein, commensurate with the above teachings and/or skill or knowledge of the relevant art. The embodiments described hereinabove are further intended to explain best modes known of practicing the invention and to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention in such or other embodiments and with the various modifications required by the particular applications or uses of the invention. Accordingly, the description is not intended to limit the invention to the form or application disclosed herein. Also, it is intended that the appended claims be construed to include alternative embodiments. 

1. A method form making cigarettes comprising: configuring wheels of a conveyor to allow tow porous belts to run in parallel to one another; adding a rear rail, front rail and center divider rail to the conveyor to form a separate tobacco column on each porous belt; feeding tobacco to an updraft chambers located below the porous belts while the belts are moving; building-up tobacco columns on each of the porous belts; trimming the tobacco columns with rotating trimmer disks and producing accurate tobacco weight; moving the trimmed tobacco columns along the porous belts until the tobacco columns reach drive wheels; feeding paper under the tobacco columns at the drive wheels and removing excess tobacco from the porous belt with a scrapper; depositing the tobacco on moving paper and around a hollow cylindrical tube; flowing the tobacco, tube and paper into a garniture; forming the tobacco tube and paper into a cylindrical shape; feeding the cylindrical shaped rod through folders and past a glue applicator that seals the paper; and producing a finished tobacco rod for cutting into individual tobacco rods.
 2. A method for making cigarettes comprising: cutting tubing to a certain length and loading the tubing into a hopper; picking-up the tubing with a vacuum drum and moving the tubing down vertical ducts by friction belts; propelling pieces of the tubing with a propulsion wheel that transports the tubing; separating the tubing with a friction spacing wheel; registering the tubing with a lugged belt; and entering the tubing into a garniture and tongue area.
 3. A method for making cigarettes comprising: feeding tubing piece-by-piece to a vertical duct by opening and closing-timing gate operated by cam; accelerating tubing down to the vertical duct, with the help of vertical accelerator belts until the tubing becomes captured into the hopper holder; picking the tubing with an articulate tubing holder located on a transferring drum, lowering to the garniture; and releasing the tubing under the registration lagged-belt.
 4. A method for making cigarettes comprising: feeding tubing piece-by-piece to a vertical duct by opening and closing timing gate operated by cam; accelerating tubing down to the vertical accelerator belts until it comes to rest on tubing position supports or slanted toward the garniture; accelerating tubing horizontally in direction of tobacco flow with horizontal acceleration pusher; and capturing the tubing by registration lagged belt.
 5. A method for making cigarettes comprising: getting tubing picked from mass flow hopper by vacuum drum; transferring tubing to a locating drum with vacuum or mechanical retention mechanism; turning the tubing holder of the locating drum at least 90 degree in the horizontal plan and at least 180 degrees in vertical plane; and depositing a plug under the registration lagged belt inside of the garniture. 